Scott Davis: Walking, Not Yet Dead
GamecockCentral.com columnist Scott Davis, who has followed USC sports for more than 30 years, provides commentary from the perspective of a Gamecocks fan. You can follow Scott on Twitter at @scdonfire.
Leading up to the UMass game, I texted several Gamecock friends to ask what they were more excited about for the weekend: The game, or Sunday night’s season premiere of “The Walking Dead.”
To a person, they all said the Dead.
So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight: Most Gamecock fans prefer watching a zombie apocalypse over Gamecock football right now.*
(*THIS POLL WAS CONDUCTED USING A TINY SAMPLE SIZE AND IS NOT STATISTICALLY ACCURATE, BUT WE’RE PRETENDING IT IS BECAUSE WE WRITE THIS COLUMN AND CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT.)
Hey, we knew this thing was a rebuilding project, right? We did.
But I can’t lie. Truth be told, I also was more excited to watch zombies stagger around and find out who was bludgeoned with a baseball bat at the end of the previous “Walking Dead” season than I was for Gamecocks-Minutemen.
And that’s even with the added intrigue of the whole “Jake Bentley should be starting at Opelika High School right now, but today, with his father on the sidelines, he’ll become USC’s starting QB” drama going on.
The Gamecocks defeated UMass 34-28, and I absolutely watched every single second of it, but oddly I came away from the experience feeling a little more disappointed and down than I have at any point this season – and that’s really saying something, since this season includes a loss to the University of Kentucky in the sport of football.
As I watched UMass quarterback Andrew Ford (no one’s idea of a Heisman contender) carve up the Gamecock secondary in the fourth quarter, it hit me that Carolina fans would have just about commissioned a statue of Bentley if we saw him make some of the throws that Ford made yesterday.
Ford constantly threw the ball into tight windows, on a dime. Most of the time, the passes were complete. Two fairly unathletic-looking Minutemen receivers were virtually unstoppable for long stretches at a time. And did I mention that UMass entered the game at 1-6 and had lost at home to Louisiana Tech last week by a score of 56-28? I didn’t? Well, I’m mentioning it.
I’ve always been a “Take the W and Move On” Guy. I am the original “Take the W and Move On” Guy, OK? If you’ve ever dreamed of being the original “Take the W and Move On” Guy, then you better wake up and apologize, or pay me royalties.
I AM THE “TAKE THE W AND MOVE ON” GUY!!!
But I didn’t take the W, or move on, after Saturday.
That was a new feeling.
I’ve taken W’s after lackluster Wofford wins and moved on. I wasn’t crazy about watching Navy rush for approximately 97,000 yards at Williams-Brice in 2011, but you know what? I took the W. A couple of years ago, after we struggled to subdue Furman and some of my friends grumbled and complained after the game, you could find me at our tailgate spot, gorging on cold fried chicken and happily taking the W.
But I found myself sitting on my couch Saturday night, while Bama-Texas A&M blared in the background, thinking things like “Do we have more than two plays on offense? What would happen if you pulled a seventy-something Roger Staubach off the sidelines and let him throw against our defense? Would he amass 400 yards in passing, or 500? Would my wife be more effective catching punts or kickoffs than anyone in a Gamecock uniform right now? What about my dog?”
As for Bentley, he had about as solid a debut as you could hope for a true freshman. He stayed in the pocket and let plays develop. He looked through his progressions. He showed the touch we’ve heard so much about on a couple of passes, two of which went for touchdowns.
Still, the offensive game plan didn’t exactly showcase his talents, since it consisted of: 1. Handing off the football to a running back, or 2. Catching the snap, turning and throwing a screen to someone 3 yards away.
Liked his moxie on the final drive, enjoyed his command of the team, appreciated the darts he threw on the touchdown passes, but it’s early.
If you’ll remember, Lorenzo Nunez had a nice day in his debut performance as a starting QB last year against a horrible team. He’s now been converted to wide receiver and is redshirting, if you need him.
I guess what I’m saying it, let’s wait and see on this Bentley thing. Give the kid a chance to become whatever he’s going to become before you decide he is or isn’t the messiah.
We knew this thing was a rebuilding project, right?
Come on, say it with me: We knew this was a rebuilding project, we knew this was a rebuilding project, we knew this was a rebuilding project…
The Bubblicious Game Balls of the Week
The “Official Text Message of the Week for the Scott Davis Column” Award goes to my old USC roommate, who suggested that I name this week’s game balls after Bubblicious bubble gum, since the Gamecock offense at one point appeared to only consist of bubble screens, bubble screens and…bubble screens.
Done! Let’s get Bubblicious.
Jake Bentley’s Brett Favre-esque Celebrations After Touchdowns - After losing a bunch of games to people like Kentucky and Mississippi State, it was refreshing to see someone in a Gamecock uniform look happy. And Jake Bentley looked happy. Boy, did he look happy. After David Williams stepped into the end zone for a routine 1-yard touchdown rush, Bentley pumped his fist so hard I thought his right arm was going to fly into the stands. That was only a prelude to his fine work after throwing his first touchdown pass to K.C. Crosby, when he went full-on Favre by pointing to the sky, fist-pumping and skipping down the field. I’m not being sarcastic - I was happy to see it. I mentioned after the Georgia game that the Gamecocks had become boring in their badness. They desperately need a shot of adrenaline, and if it comes from an 18-year-old true freshman, all the better.
SEC Network Analyst Andre Ware for Consistently Saying Exactly What I Was Just Thinking - If you’ve read this column over the years, you know that I’ve long praised Ware as an analyst. He’s by far the most knowledgeable and listenable guy in any ESPN-affiliated booth other than Herbstreit - which makes it all the more mystifying that he finds himself stuck with noon matchups like 2-4 South Carolina vs. 1-6 UMass instead of actual college football games. Last year, as I watched Gamecock fans tie themselves into knots trying to defend Jon Hoke’s “Let’s Line Up All of our Secondary 15,000 Miles from the Line of Scrimmage” defense, Ware announced our game against Texas A&M and promptly laid down the law, saying things like “This team has no chance to win the way they’re lining up their defense - they aren’t even giving themselves a chance.” On Saturday, I was watching South Carolina’s offensive line try to block and having thoughts of pure desperation when Ware said, “This offensive line is underperforming, and there’s no other way to say it” as I smiled and nodded. He has the ability to be blunt and to take no prisoners without seeming like an annoying know-it-all, which is a lot more difficult than you think it is. Remember FOX baseball analyst Tim McCarver and how he made every baseball fan everywhere homicidal with his condescending rants? Ware can tell it like it is and simply provoke a person to nod and think, “That’s exactly right, Andre Ware. That’s exactly right.”
David Williams for Taking the Opportunity and Running With It - In a strange circumstance, longtime starting running back A.J. Turner didn’t really see the field much on Saturday, even though he dressed and was apparently available. Coach Will Muschamp said after the game that Turner was “banged up,” but didn’t appear all that interested in offering specifics on the banging up, so…who knows what was going on there. Regardless, the maligned Williams (who’d lost his grip on the starting job weeks ago) took the reins and ran with authority, rushing for two touchdowns and 69 yards on 15 carries, and generally getting a chance to feel like a part of the offense again. He may or may not be playing for South Carolina this time next year, but at least he’ll have Saturday to remember his time here.
Deflated Balls
You’ll be shocked to hear this, but there are actually a few Deflated Balls to hand out when South Carolina needs a late first down in the fourth quarter to finally subdue 1-6 Massachusetts at home.
This Punt/Kick Return Thing Being a Full-on, Five-Alarm Crisis - We’re in DEFCON 5 mode at this point. Can anyone on this roster catch a punt? I’m not even talking about returning one for a few positive yards - I’m simply asking if there’s someone who can catch it? The Gamecocks are averaging about 8.5 muffed punts a game at this point, and they’ve tried just about everyone currently alive and wearing a South Carolina uniform. Nothing seems to work. Chris Lammons – roughly the 92nd person to be tried at punt returner – fumbled a punt in the fourth quarter that probably would have cost USC the game if the Minutemen had been able to capitalize on it. A.J. Turner fumbled a kickoff in the end zone and then got tackled as he dove on top of the ball around the 10-yard line, costing South Carolina critical real estate at a critical time. What the (bleep) is going on? Seriously, what the (bleep) is going on? I can live with being undermanned and thin on depth. But for the love of God, catch a (bleeping) punt.
South Carolina’s Defensive Effort - A few guys had nice days (I see you, Bryson Allen-Williams). But that was a tough day at the office for a group that had made some positive strides in recent weeks. You could argue that if the Minutemen hadn’t had some dumb turnovers (most of which were not caused by South Carolina’s defense), they would have been essentially unstopped all day. And that’s kind of frightening when I see Tennessee and Clemson still left on the schedule.
South Carolina Fans Eating Their Own and Fixating on Anything Other than the Actual Games - I dropped by a Gamecock message board after the game and found folks talking about being annoyed by the rooster crow that plays during third downs, grumbling about the music being too loud and hating Todd Ellis as a radio broadcaster. I don’t mind those opinions being shared: That’s why we have message boards. What I don’t get is just how passionate and how over-the-top emotional some of our fans are about things that ultimately just don’t matter to what’s happening on the field, or the strange capacity South Carolina fans have for complaining about just about everything surrounding their own team beyond the actual games.
We complain about the band not being loud enough or big enough. We complain about the “It’s another Carolina….FIRST DOWN!!!” guy. We complain about the Mic Guy being cheesy, or Sir Big Spur not being as awesome a mascot as UGA. We definitely complain about uniform combinations and colors. We complain about former players who “don’t show the program enough love.” We complain about the area around Williams-Brice being a dump. We complain if the students hold a “Black Out” as being bush league, then complain that the students don’t show enough spirit. We complain about the music over the PA being too loud during the games or freak about their being “too much rap music” during timeouts. We complain about Todd Ellis, even though he loves USC more than you or I do, and even though every single football game is on television and no one even needs to listen to the radio in 2016 ever, under any circumstances.
Tennessee’s band plays “Rocky Top” approximately 100,000 times per game. It’s spectacularly annoying for an opposing fan. They play it even if the Vols don’t do anything to cheer about. And you’d never hear a single UT fan musing, “Boy, I wish our band didn’t play ‘Rocky Top’ so much.” You’d never, ever hear that. You’d never hear an FSU fan say, “Man, why do we annoy opposing fans by doing that dumb, cheesy Tomahawk Chop for four quarters?”
If you want to complain about the coaches, by all means, enjoy yourself. Some of them make millions of dollars to coach football. Have at it.
And if you actually care about all this other stuff more than you care about wins and losses, knock yourself out. But if you watched South Carolina struggle to beat UMass on Saturday and your prime obsession was Ellis, the rooster crow or rap music being too loud, it might be time for a new hobby, because I’m not sure football’s where you need to be spending your time. As always with Gamecock fans, we can absolutely count on a significant segment of our fan base hating itself and hating our school’s traditions and the people who surround the program.
I don’t get it, never will get it and don’t want to get it. But as a guy we used to know once said, “It is what it is.”
See you next week for the Vols. Their band will be playing “Rocky Top” early and often. It’ll be annoying.
And their fans would never think of complaining about it.
Imagine that.
